274 The Production and Waste of Money. 



as fire and water, judiciously applied, can make it. Then, 

 when a blow is administered to it by the rapid descent of the 

 second die, the plain portions of both dies sink deeply into the 

 softened metal, in order that the engraved devices may be per- 

 fectly filled. The operation of stamping, therefore, is not so 

 much a raising of the impressions as it is a depression of certain 

 parts of the gold surfaces, in order that other parts of those 

 surfaces may reach the depths of the engraving on the dies. 

 The amount of force administered is regulated by the boldness 

 which the eugraver intends the devices to assume. It will be 

 clear, then, that the most prominent parts of a coin are those 

 which have undergone the least amount of compression — an 

 unfortunate contingency, because those very parts remain soft, 

 while, by and bye, they will be most exposed to the action of 

 abrasion. Allowing that the sovereign, to which we have just 

 referred, and which may be taken, in its mode of manufacture, 

 as an illustration of all coins, has been long enough in circula- 

 tion to have lost its impressions, the application of great heat 

 will, to a certain extent, restore them. The severely pressed 

 surfaces will be expanded, and the outlines at least of the devices 

 will, in a ghost-like form, reappear. It is thus that old and 

 worn coins may be made to tell the story of their birth, although 

 time and hard work have done their best to conceal it. 



Now arises the question of, " What becomes of the worn-off 

 impressions of gold and silver coins ? " The precious metals 

 we know are indestructible, and undoubtedly the particles of 

 metal abraded from their surfaces exist — somewhere. They 

 cannot be annihilated. In reference to the fact of the 

 imperishable nature of gold, it has been suggested that a 

 portion of that now in use in the form of coin, or trinkets, may 

 have once entered into the composition of the Cherubim of the 

 Holy Temple, or constituted part of the 120 talents which the 

 Queen of Sheba presented to the wisest of men ! Such a 

 thing is certainly not beyond the pale of possibility, but it is 

 not intended to pursue such an inquiry at present. It 

 might be curious to do so, but its profitable issue would 

 be at least dubious. The House of Commons acknowledges 

 the fact of the loss of silver by abrasion of the coinage, 

 for it votes annually to the Mint authorities a sum of 

 £10,000 to the Mint for the purchase of worn silver 

 coins, and as these are always received from the Bank 

 of England at the nominal value at which they have been 

 paid into it, the loss to the nation on each transaction is con- 

 siderable. Of course we all assist in deteriorating the coin- 

 age, and it is but fair that we should all share in the expense 

 of renewing it. Those who are in the habit of carrying coins 

 loosely in their pockets inflict the heaviest amount of punish- 



